;Empire In the
Russian Empire, the
Governorate of Livonia was administered with the co-operation of the Livonian Noble Corporation, the estate of nobility who owed
fealty to the
Emperor. The Noble Corporation, also known as the "knighthood" began at the dissolution of the
Teutonic Order in Livonia in the 16th century, and comprised the leading representatives of the
Baltic-German nobility who made up the ruling class in Latvia and Estonia until the
First World War. The Landtag was never a democratic body. ;Latvian independence After the
People’s Council declared Latvian independence on 18 November 1918 the building served as its home, except for the period during 1919 when the All-Latvian Congress of Workers' Soviet Deputies of the
Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic controlled Riga. After the socialist republic was
defeated, the building became the seat of the
Constitutional Assembly elected in 1920. On 17 October 1921, the building was destroyed by fire. It was restored according to the design of the architect
Eižens Laube. The restoration included a new statue by sculptor Rihards Maurs of Lāčplēsis the "bear-slayer", from the
Latvian epic of the same name, replacing the statue of von Plettenberg which was destroyed in the fire. At the time of the building's restoration the main assembly hall was modified to meet the needs of the Saeima of the new Republic of Latvia. The Saeima chamber today still approximates this design. The last meeting of the Constitutional Assembly, which wrote the
Constitution of Latvia took place in the restored building on 3 November 1922. ;Authoritarian régime The building served as the home of the Saeima until a
self-coup by serving
Prime Minister Kārlis Ulmanis in 1934. Ulmanis assumed the title of
President in 1936 and the continuous dissolution of the Saeima served the purposes of his
authoritarian régime, the building was instead to house the presidential administration. ;Occupation During the
Second World War, after Latvia was
occupied, the building was the location of the
Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR under the Soviets and the headquarters of the
SS and police for the
Eastern territories under
Nazi Germany. Latvia remained under Soviet occupation after the war and the building served as the location of the Supreme Soviet for almost half a century. In the early 1980s one of the inner courtyards was walled in to expand building space, this part of the building is now known as the Voting Room. ;Restoration of independence After the
restoration of independence on 4 May 1990, the building was home to the
Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia, which functioned as an interim parliament until the Constitution was fully re-established with the
election of the next Saeima. Since 1993 it is once again home to Latvia's parliament. In 1996, the vestibule and the large marble staircase were repainted to create an impression closer to Eclectic style. In 1997, the Plenary Chamber was renovated by architect Andris Veidemanis in cooperation with SIA AIG. == Gallery ==